NIST awards cyber ID tech grants to budding pilot programs

Five companies working to develop trusted electronic identity technologies to combat identity theft, protect online transactions and secure information sharing were given $10 million in grants under NIST’s National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC) program.

NSTIC is a White House initiative to work collaboratively with the private sector, advocacy groups and public-sector agencies. The selected pilot proposals, said NIST, advance the program’s vision of individuals and organizations adopting secure, efficient, easy-to-use and interoperable identity credentials to access online services in a way that promotes confidence, privacy, choice and innovation.

“Increasing confidence in online transactions fosters innovation and economic growth,” said undersecretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology and NIST Director Patrick Gallagher on Sept. 20 “These investments in the development of identity solutions will help protect our citizens from identity theft and other types of fraud, while helping our businesses, especially small businesses, reduce their costs.”

NSTIC envisions an “Identity Ecosystem” in which technologies, policies and consensus-based standards support greater trust and security when individuals, businesses and other organizations conduct sensitive transactions online.

The pilot programs, said NTSIC, span multiple sectors, including health care, online media, retail, banking, higher education, and state and local government and will test and demonstrate new solutions, models or frameworks that do not exist in the marketplace today.

Launched in August, NIST’s Identity Ecosystem Steering Group (IDESG) includes volunteer companies, organizations and individuals dedicated to promoting the creation of standards and policies that will accelerate the development and adoption of the Identity Ecosystem. NSTIC’s National Program Office provided approximately $2.5 million in funding for a secretariat to support and facilitate the work of the IDESG. The group will hold its second plenary meeting Oct. 29-30, 2012, in Dulles, VA, said NIST.

The grantees of the pilot awards are:

The American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA): $1,621,803

AAMVA will lead a consortium of private industry and government partners to implement and pilot the Cross Sector Digital Identity Initiative (CSDII). The goal of this initiative is to produce a secure online identity ecosystem that will lead to safer transactions by enhancing privacy and reducing the risk of fraud in online commerce. In addition to AAMVA, the CSDII pilot participants include the Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, Biometric Signature ID, CA Technologies, Microsoft and AT&T.

Criterion Systems: $1,977,732

The Criterion pilot will allow consumers to selectively share shopping and other preferences and information to both reduce fraud and enhance the user experience. It will enable convenient, secure and privacy-enhancing online transactions for consumers, including access to Web services from leading identity service providers; seller login to online auction services; access to financial services at Broadridge; improved supply chain management at General Electric; and first-response management at various government agencies and health care service providers. The Criterion team includes ID/DataWeb, AOL Corp., LexisNexis®, Risk Solutions, Experian, Ping Identity Corp., CA Technologies, PacificEast, Wave Systems Corp., Internet2 Consortium/In-Common Federation, and Fixmo Inc.

Daon, Inc.: $1,821,520

The Daon pilot will demonstrate how senior citizens and all consumers can benefit from a digitally connected, consumer friendly Identity Ecosystem that enables consistent, trusted interactions with multiple parties online that will reduce fraud and enhance privacy. The pilot will employ user-friendly identity solutions that leverage smart mobile devices (smartphones/tablets) to maximize consumer choice and usability. Pilot team members include AARP, PayPal, Purdue University, and the American Association of Airport Executives.

Resilient Network Systems, Inc.: $1,999,371

The Resilient pilot seeks to demonstrate that sensitive health and education transactions on the Internet can earn patient and parent trust by using a Trust Network built around privacy-enhancing encryption technology to provide secure, multifactor, on-demand identity proofing and authentication across multiple sectors. Resilient will partner with the American Medical Association, Aetna, the American College of Cardiology, ActiveHealth Management, Medicity, LexisNexis, NaviNet, the San Diego Beacon eHealth Community, Gorge Health Connect, the Kantara Initiative, and the National eHealth Collaborative.

In the education sector, NIST said Resilient will demonstrate secure Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)-compliant access to online learning for children. Resilient will partner with the National Laboratory for Education Transformation, LexisNexis, Neustar, Knowledge Factor, Authentify Inc., Riverside Unified School District, Santa Cruz County Office of Education, and the Kantara Initiative to provide secure, but privacy-enhancing verification of children, parents, teachers and staff, as well as verification of parent-child relationships.

University Corporation for Advanced Internet Development (UCAID) (Mich.): $1,840,263